BILL NUMBER: SJR 35	CHAPTERED  09/20/00

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   164
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 20, 2000
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   AUGUST 31, 2000
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 29, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 25, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Knight

                        AUGUST 8, 2000

   Senate Joint Resolution No. 35--Relative to the National Training
Center Land Acquisition Project.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 35, Knight.  National Training Center:  Fort Irwin,
California:  Land Acquisition Project.
   This measure would memorialize Congress and the President to act
promptly with regard to the expansion of the National Training Center
at Fort Irwin, California.




   WHEREAS, The National Training Center (NTC), located at Fort Irwin
in San Bernardino County, provides a critical United States Army
training mission; and
   WHEREAS, The NTC has been providing this mission since 1981.  The
success and effectiveness of this training mission has been proven in
past and current actions by the United States Army in carrying out
its global mission; and
   WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is vital to our nations's interest and the
defense and security of our nation; and
   WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is an integral piece of the Southwest Defense
Complex, a network of military facilities located throughout the
southwestern United States which collectively provides a secure,
robust, and cost-effective platform for multiservice military
preparedness projects and activities; and
   WHEREAS, Despite the Army's requirement for a larger area in which
to conduct realistic combat training based upon modern technology
and warfare, a need which the Army has amply demonstrated during its
13-year effort to expand the boundaries of the National Training
Center, Fort Irwin has not been expanded upon its World War II
boundaries; and
   WHEREAS, Fort Irwin is important to the economic well-being of the
entire high-desert area, providing thousands of people with
employment and valuable income and tax revenues to neighboring
communities, the County of San Bernardino, and the State of
California; and
   WHEREAS, The Army and the Department of Defense have presented an
expansion proposal for Fort Irwin which responds to the concerns of
the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, the citizens of San
Bernardino County, and the Bureau of Land Management's Desert
District Advisory Council; and
   WHEREAS, This resolution builds upon Resolution Chapter 94 passed
by the California Legislature in 1993; and
   WHEREAS, The Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino and Kern
Counties have passed similar resolutions in support of the NTC's
expansion; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature commends the Army for its
resourcefulness and diligence in seeking to accomplish its training
mission at the NTC while upholding high standards of environmental
stewardship; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Department of Defense to
complete, consistent with applicable state and federal environmental
law, the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement regarding their
current proposal, or any modifications made thereto since it was
proposed in April 1999; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature urges the Bureau of Land Management
to move rapidly to complete analysis and reviews in order to
complete the planning process pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act within the current fiscal year; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature urges the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate to act promptly relative
to the expansion proposal as a distinct action as part of the 2001
fiscal year appropriations process, consistent with applicable state
and federal environmental laws ; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress
of the United States, to the California Congressional Delegation, to
the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior, the Chairs of
the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, and to the Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
